Former Syrian official reveals Assad's involvement in the killing of American journalist Austin Tice.
Secret American investigations, detailed in The Washington Post, revealed that former Syrian security official Bassam al-Hassan, a close associate of Bashar al-Assad, underwent intensive interrogation in Beirut early last April, in the presence of Lebanese officials and representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
According to American sources cited in the investigation, Bassam al-Hassan provided shocking information indicating that Bashar al-Assad personally ordered the killing of American journalist Austin Tice in 2013, after Tice's failed attempt to escape from his captivity. Al-Hassan claimed to have carried out the order through one of his aides, despite his alleged attempts to persuade Assad to reconsider the decision.
The Washington Post reported that al-Hassan justified his actions as "political reasons," considering keeping Tice as a hostage a "pressure card" against the United States. However, an informed source described this narrative as an attempt by al-Hassan to "evade responsibility," confirming that information implicating Assad "appears reliable due to al-Hassan's central position in the former regime."
The newspaper noted that American investigations are ongoing to verify the accuracy of these confessions, while the FBI is trying to pinpoint the exact location of Tice's remains, which al-Hassan's accounts have altered, but they remain linked to an area near Damascus.
American officials believe that if confirmed, this information could constitute a "significant breakthrough" in one of the most complex issues in Syrian-American relations, with expectations of intensified cooperation between Washington and the transitional Syrian government to uncover the fate of the journalist who disappeared in 2012.
Additionally, The New York Times published an extensive report based on interviews with over ten current and former American officials, confirming that Bassam al-Hassan had been among the main suspects in the Tice case for years, with American intelligence considering him a "key player" in Tice's arrest.
The report quoted a senior American official warning against naively accepting al-Hassan's statements, as he might be seeking to "shift full responsibility to Assad" to exonerate himself. Sources also revealed that al-Hassan's name was included in a list provided by the Biden administration to the new Syrian government to assist in uncovering the truth.
Other sources cited by The Washington Post and The New York Times revealed that al-Hassan fled to Iran on December 8th with the help of Iranian officials, in a move interpreted as an escape from accountability after the fall of the Assad regime. However, he later voluntarily returned to Lebanon, where he continued to communicate with American and Lebanese officials without coercion, described as "positive" cooperation.
Reports confirmed that al-Hassan was not detained but was residing freely in one of Beirut's upscale neighborhoods, where FBI and CIA agents conducted direct interviews with him. However, the nature of the information he provided _whether about Tice's murder or the former regime's chemical weapons program_ remains unclear.
